


Unsolved Mysteries

by velannacousland



Series: Help Me Love, Don't Fail Me Now [4]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 19:05:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1358515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velannacousland/pseuds/velannacousland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, some mysteries never get solved.</p>
<p>It all starts with an eye twitch...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unsolved Mysteries

**Author's Note:**

> SO, after it accidentally was deleted _twice_ , this thing has finally been written \o/.
> 
> Slight reference to Dragon Age, because Dragon Age is that awesome.

"No dates, Jim. I'm serious."

"Got it."

"And no handholding. I"m a doctor, not a teenager."

"Roger that."

"And don't you dare get it into your head to do that lovey dovey shit in public. I know ways to make your death look natural."

"Understood."

"And don't you dare make me watch that ridiculous, incorrect medical show you insist on watching. I do that shit for a living, I don't want to think about it when I'm not working."

"As long as you don't play that Savwasky shit, I won't make you watch 'On Call'"

"It's _Savakowski_ Jim, and he's a lyrical genius. Better than that noise shit you listen to."

"Hey! Inertia has revolutionized the rock genre. Get some culture man, I don't want my boyfriend to make me look bad!"

" _I'm serious Jim_. No dating. And the noise that you call music is the same noise my patients make when they are in unbearable agony."

"I was _kidding_. Kind of."

\--------------

There was no discussion, no "will our friendship survive", no awkward moments on the bridge; in essence, nothing really changed. Except that when they crawled into bed together it wasn't because they were too drunk to figure out the sleeping arraignments and too drunk to care, now they do it for more (ahem) _private_ things.

Bones's mama taught him that you do **not** discuss private things in public. So don't ask him, damnit.

Their families didn't really react at all when they told them that they were now a couple. Winona just rolled her eyes and said "I hope this means that you stop sticking your dick into random people and I won't have to worry about random grandchildren popping up." (Mom! I was always careful!). 

Mrs. McCoy went on a long winded rant that consisted of "I hope this means you can still give me grandchildren. I'm serious Leonard. It's bad enough that Donna went and swore off having children for the time being for some nonsense religion, I will be having grandchildren! Leonard, you better adopt or go to that one planet, you know the one I'm talking about, next to Vulcan. Carbus? Carebus? Hold on, let me ask Eleanor. Eleanor! What's that one planet where they make them babies? Cerabus! That's it. Leonard, Eleanor came over to tell me that Colin's wife had a baby. At least someone is having grandchildren!"

(Bones didn't get a chance to say anything. Jim told him later that "Now I know where you get the guilt trip gene from".)

And they didn't have to pretend like they weren't dating, because everyone already thought they were. 

In conclusions, Jim's life for the moment was awesome. 

\--------------  
 _"Captain's log, stardate.... We've come across The New Orleans frigate-class ship, the U.S.S. Employ. No life signs were detected. In fact, once I and the rest of the away team landed, the entire ship was looked as if everyone just ceased to exist. There was beds still unmade, meals still on the table yet to be served, clothes being laid out as if someone was getting ready...it was entirely too creepy. The Enterprise is going to stay in orbit until the crew has gained all valuable intel and plans made to escort the ship to the closest Federation wreck yard._  
\--------------

It all started with an eye twitch.

Bones had come to their quarters bitching (usual) about one of Jim's "unbelievably stupid smart" employees on the Enterprise (usual), when he said--

"...and then to top it all off, I got this annoying twitch in my eye. Jim, I look like crazed! Am I crazed? See! It happened again!"

While Bones normally looked craze, and not that Jim would ever tell him that, he did indeed see the aforementioned eye twitch. It was a barely there twitch, but noticeable enough that if one had it all day, like Bones, one would understandably be annoyed.

The week went on boring. Boring! Jim thought dramatically as he threw himself onto his bed. BORING. Whoever thought being a captain was one of excitement and living on the edge 24-7 is sadly mistaken. Oh, sure there are moments when your life is on the line, but that only makes up about...42% of the time, decided Jim. The other part was just paperwork, routine diplomacy missions, and whatever science exploration Spock felt was "intriguing."

Jim sighed. His mind raced a million miles an hour a million times a day. According to his mom, it was his best and worst trait. His grandfather helped him take his mind off of things by letting him mess around with whatever broke down transportation he could find. It's how Jim got so good at machinery and fixing things.

A crash and an "OW FUCK!" coming from the kitchen broke into Jim's thoughts. Bones must be home, Jim thought and smiled. Jim pushed himself up on his elbows and hopped out of bed to see what happened. He went into the room to see what happened to find Bones sitting at the kitchen table with his elbows on the table and his head in his head. Jim became concerned, and walked over to put his hand on the others' shoulder.

"Hey man," Jim said as he rubbed Bones's back. "What's wrong?"

"I ran into that fucking table is what." Bones replied without moving his head. "A perfect fucking end to this perfect fucking day.'

"What happened?"

"I got this fucking headache man!" the man cried. Jim gripped Bones's shoulder.

"Why don't you go lay down, man?"

"Don't touch me, don't talk to me. Just..I'm going to lay down. Wake me up when it's time for my shift."

\----------------

"And you say that was the last time you talked to him?"

"Yes. He said he was going to lay down and to wake him up."

"When was this?" M'Benga asked while taking notes.

"Two nights ago." Jim said, wringing his hands. "I tried to wake him up the next morning for his shift, but he didn't wake up. I figured he was sleeping off his headache, so I let him go. I tried again when I got off shift, but he didn't wake up. That's when I called you down."

"We're running some tests right now and will report right back to you, Captain." M'Benga responded. "So far, though, I wish not to speculate on the cause of Dr. McCoy's condition. The only thing I can definitively say is that he's in a coma and is unresponsive." He stopped and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Jim. I wish there was more I can say." Grabbing Jim's shoulder, he gripped it lightly. Jim could do nothing but nod, and M'Benga turned and walked back into Sickbay.

Seeing Bones like that hurt, just straight up hurt. Jim's thoughts ran from one to end to another, all with the same question:

Bones had to wake up, because there's no Jim without Bones.

Bones was there for everything, before everything. He was there before fame overtook the crew of the Enterprise and was there before Nero. Bones was there at the start of his new life, in that shuttle in Riverside with his face bruised and battered. Bones, who gave him everything he had that day (His whiskey flask) and was just as miserable as Jim was ( _All I got left is muh bones._ )

Jim crouches in the hallway, against the wall with his head in his hands. 

No rest for the wicked. He sighs, slowly gets up and return to the bridge.

\----------------

Jim dreams that night of peace.

He's at the bottom of a grassy hill, on which a large weeping willow is planted at the top. It's warm, and the wind is blowing lightly. Jim closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in.

"Jim!" A familiar voice calls out.

He opens his eyes to Bones in front of the weeping willow, waving at Jim.

"What are you doing? You should see the view from here!" Bones calls out.

Jim has no idea where he is and doesn't really care. He runs up and hugs Bones with all his might.

"Hey," Bones says softly "What's wrong?"

"You're here." Jim answers, hugging him tightly with his voice breaking "You're okay."

Bones pushed Jim back far enough to see his face. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"Can I just." Jim starts, pulling Bones close "Stay here?"

"Of course you can." Bones replies.

They hold onto each other like that, with the warm weather and a light breeze, and Jim thinks "This is perfect."

Then his comm goes off.

Jim wakes up on his back and stares at the ceiling for a minute. Eventually tiring of the comm going off, he rubs his eyes, turns, and sweeps his hand over his nightstand until he finds his comm.

"Kirk."

"Captain, it's M'Benga. You need to get down here right away."

\-----------

Jim met Lei Margot at their first stopover at a Starbase shortly after their five year mission started. He needed to fill in a few positions, one being in security, and Jim was extremely impressed on how a short Bajoran woman could intimidate him (and, according to her records, every prisoner at the prison she worked at).

Such a strong woman who now lays comatose in sickbay.

"Same symptoms as Doctor McCoy." states M'Benga "She was found by Hendorff at her station. Hendorff says that she had been complaining about a headache."

"And you think it's the same thing."

"I mean, it could be. I called you down just in case, but there _are_ some simi...."

"DOCTOR!" A loud screech at the front door cuts off M'Benga. "Doctor help!"

Both men turn to find a blond woman at the front of Medbay with an unconscious brunette man at her feet. M'Benga runs over while Jim stays in front of Margot.

"What happened?" The doctor asked.

"I don't know!" The woman sobbed. "He won't wake up!"

"Ensign." Jim barks out while walking over to the crying woman. "Ensign, what's your name?"

"Richards, sir." The woman replied. "Ensign Richards. This is my brother, Robert."

Jim helps M'Benga carry the unconscious man over to a bed. "Had he been complaining about anything?"

Richards bit down on her lip. "Uhm, a couple days ago he said he had a headache?" Both men look at each other.

"This can't be a coincidence." Jim says

"No sir," M'Benga agrees "No sir, it really can't".

Grabbing his comm, Jim leaves sickbays and heads toward officer dormitories. He remembers doing scheduling and this week, piloting night shift was...

"Kirk to Bridge."

"Bridge."

"Christoph, stop this ship."

Jim ran all the way to Spock's living quarters and kept ringing the buzzer until he opened the door. 

"Spock, I need you to make a list of all planets and stopovers that we've made. I also need you to make a list of all diseases that can be caught at each place. Understood?"

"Understood, Captain."

"I'm calling an emergency meeting. Meet me in meeting room A in 5 minutes."

"As you wish."

Fifteen minutes later found all senior officers in the aforementioned meeting room, briefed on everything up until that point, when Jim opened the floor for ideas.

"Well," Hendorff started "Last time Margot was off the ship was at Starbase Gemini two weeks ago."

"According to official records, Ensign Richards did not exit the ship during that time." Spock said with McCoy's, Richards, and Lei's records in front of him. "The last time Ensign Richards left the ship was during the Denerim mission."

"Wait, wasn't that the mission that we had to supply medicine because of a plague?" Uhura asks. "Do you think he could have caught something there?"

"Unlikely. The disease that we treated on Denerim does not affect humans." Spock replied.

"But he still be a carrier."

"Doctor M'Benga," Kirk interjected. "Have you found anything concrete to link all three patients?"

"I haven't found anything foreign, like a virus or anything." M'Benga answered. "All three have elevated blood pressure, high pulse, and all three are unresponsive. All of them complained about a headache. That's all I have."

"So you're pretty sure it's not a virus?" Kirk asks.

"Unless it's a new virus that someone can escape medical detection, no it's not a virus."

"What do all three have in common?" Sulu asks. 

"Well," Hendorff states "They all three serve on the Enterprise."

"Other than that." Sulu retorts.

"They all work on the same shift?"

"Mister Spock," Chekov says "What was the last away mission all three went on?"

"The U.S.S. Employ." Spock replies.

"You mean that ship that had no one on it?" Hendorff asks "How long ago was that? Three, four months ago? That's a pretty long incubation period for a fuckin' virus."

"It's a link, though." Uhura says, not nicely.

"No, Lieutenant, he has a point." M'Benga says, "Viruses would show up way before then."

"Spock," Jim finally says, chin resting on his hand and with his elbow on the armrest of his chair. "Are there any viruses that have an incubation period of that time frame?"

"Negative, Captain." Jim sighs and rubs his face.

The rest of the meeting goes by and nothing new is discovered. Jim dismisses them, and reminds Spock that he wants that report by the morning. He walks to his room and falls face down on his mattress.

One thing that Jim prides himself on is that he can turn on what he calls his "Captain Face". He has the ability to shut out all unnecessary distractions ( _Like Bones practically dead in MedBay_ an unhelpful voice in his head states.) and become the captain that everyone needs. However, in the privacy of his own room, he can take off his mask and just be Jim Kirk, the one who's boyfriend won't wake up.

_Maybe if I kiss him he will wake up._ Jim thinks, blinking tears out of his eyes. _Just like Sleeping Beauty._

He falls into a light sleep imagining Bones in a dress.

 

\------------

The mystery of the U.S.S. Employ was never solved. The Enterprise finally tows it to the nearest Starbase after a week of searching the ship top to bottom and investigating every angle that could be thought of. McCoy went through the medical records, Richards hacked into the navigation station, and Margot went through all security feeds and reports. 

"Jim, all of this reads like it could have come from any starship." McCoy reports. "Minor bruises, burns, sex acts gone wrong. Nothing unusual."

"The last command that was put in at the navigator's station was a course laid out to Earth." Richards reports, and with a soft voice adds "They were going home."

"Well," Margot starts "Security reports are unremarkable. Same old shit, different ship. It's the vid feed that's interesting."

"What's that?" Kirk asks.

"There is none. Looks like the entire security system was shut off at the chief security officer's station."

The CSO of the Employ Lt. Cmdr Bridges. Every aspect of his life was turned inside out and left open for the world to see. The good, the bad, and the (really) ugly was available to everyone to comment on. That messed with Hendorff's head, because Bridges was his mentor throughout the academy. Kirk had found him a week later, laying on the floor of engineering and crying out "He was a _good man_! Everyone fucks up, even the great glorious Kirk!"

"You're drunk, man." Jim says, pulling Hendorff to his feet.

"He can't even defend himself against the shit everyone is saying because he's _dead_!"

It was the only thing they found, so Starfleet brass took it to mean Bridges must have done something. Jim tried to argue, he really did, that just because it was the CSO's station does not mean the CSO had anything to do with it They wouldn't listen, just stamped it off as an unsolved mystery, that Bridges more than likely killed everyone and shot them out of an airlock, and scrapped the Employ.

\------------

"Medical to Kirk." After two hours of dreaming about being Prince Charming, Jim's comm came to life.

"Kirk here."

"You better get down here." M'Benga said. Jim jumped out of bed and ran all the way to medical, bracing himself for the worst but hoping for the best.

What he did not expect was to find a very much awake Margot standing on her biobed. Which would have been strange in of itself, except she had blood coming out of her eyes. Her light auburn hair hung over her face, and at that moment, the only thing Jim could think of was that she was the face of pure evil.

"I am the voice of God!" She cried out, holding her arms out to her side and flung her head back. "I am the Alpha, The Omega, the end all and be all." She slowly lifted her head up and looked Jim in the eye, blood-tears still running down her face. She smiled slowly. "And you, my chosen one, are here to serve me. You will listen of the words of the one true omnipotent being in the universe, and you will bathe me in the blood of my enemies."

Jim stood there, stunned. Slowly, he spoke "Margot, get down and we'll talk."

"NO!" She screeched. "I am not going to lower myself to the level of sinners. I've watched you for centuries, killing each other, murdering and slaughtering the innocent. All in the name of fake gods and deities. I am here to separate the believers from the fake prophets. Rise, my brethren!"

Richards and McCoy stood up, both with blood tears spilling from their eyes.

\-------------

The rest of the universe forgot about the Employ after a week, more concerned with Romulans, Klingons, and universally known celebrities to care. And somewhere in the universe, 550 forgotten bodies were floating along in dead space, with shocked and scared expressions forever etched on their faces. 

And on the Enterprise, one man took it upon himself to write 550 letters of condolence to the families.

It was what Lt. Cmdr. Bridges would have done. 

_We may not know what happened._ He wrote _But I know that they died like heroes._

\----------

"Bones." Jim said, squeezing the sound of his throat. "Bones..."

"Hello Jim." Bone replied, walking over and standing right in front of Jim. "Just the person I wanted to see."

"Bones what's wrong?" Jim asks, right as McCoy grabs him by the throat and shoves him against the wall "Bones, please talk to me." McCoy tilts his head.

"I'm not sure you will like what I'm about to say, Captain." McCoy says that last word with every ounce of vitriol he can muster. "After all, it's your way or no way."

"Bones, please." Jim begs, trying to break the vice like grip around his throat.

"No, for once you are going to listen. Don't you think it's about time you got your head out of your ass and admit that you're not the center of everyone's universe? That maybe, you're just as fucked up as the rest of us? You've gotten your way, not once thinking about how your actions affect others. Do you really think I want to be out here? I'm only out here because you begged me to come with you. Not once did you stop to think what I would have wanted."

Jim knows it's bullshit, because the only thing Bones said on the subject was _I got no place left to go and who is going to watch your fool ass?_ but the fact that it's coming from the man himself has him second guessing.

"Bones," Jim tries to reason "Bones, you are not in your right mind."

"Oh, no, I am." He spits out. "Or should we go even further back? How 'bout with Sam? Did you ever tell him that you used to pray that Frank would hit him instead of you? How did it feel when Sam became his way of releasing steam? Did it make you feel good?"

The long forgotten memory slowly came to the surface. "Or how about with Spock? How did it feel when you made him lose control on the bridge? That you used his mother death against him? All for your gain? Just so you can become captain of the Enterprise? That's fuckin' cold, man. Also hypocritical, seeing how you should have taken yourself off of command because haven't you been emotionally compromised since the beginning of all of this? What, you think the rules don't..."

McCoy never gets to finish that sentence, because then McCoy just drops down unconscious. Jim slides to the floor, heaving in air. He looks up to see Spock illuminated by the lights of Medbay. Spock drops to one knee and says "Captain, are you okay?"

No, no he's not. Long forgotten memories of childhood, memories of mistakes he's made, and having the one person who he truly cares about speak to him like he's nothing tears him apart. Instead, Jim says, "By order of Starfleet regulation 619, I hereby relinquish my command based on the fact that I have been emotionally compromised." He slowly stands up, brushing off Spock's attempt to help him. He just stumbles to his room and doesn't leave for a week.

\-----------

Jim gets bits and pieces of what happens next by crew members visit him in his room. Spock had managed to Vulcan-nerve pinch Margot and Richards before he got to McCoy. They quarantined the three of them until they figured out what was wrong.

Spock went through all the Employ's records and cross referenced them with the Enterprise's. There weren't any similarities, but approximately 4 months before the ship was found adrift, the ship landed at a Class-M planet that Jim can't even remember the name of. There's a parasite at this planet, that if ingested can cause hallucinations, headaches, and can cause a comatose like state. Spock's best guess is that Lt. Cmdr Bridges contracted it, which caused him to kill everyone on board. Then 4 months later, he reasons, somehow Margot contracted it working at his station while she was looking through records and security feeds. How McCoy and Richards caught it, and what really happened with the Employ still an unsolved note for the history books.

Spock 'politely' asked for the antidote (and for years and years, everyone who was present for that vid conference will talk about how Spock can cause terror without even raising his voice) from the natives and who 'happily' provided it. It was administered to the patients, who recovered quickly.

Pretty anti-climatic, really, but Jim stays holed up in his room getting drunk every minute of the day. The guilt of everything he's done weighs on him heavily. He sends out drunken apologies to everyone he can think of that he's done wrong.

("You have nothing to apologize for, Jimmy." Sam says, "You were, what, ten? What couldn't done anything more. I don't blame you."

"Jim, hun," His mom says, sighing "You were always a good kid, and never once did I hate you."

"Captain, I must note my concern about your inebriated state, and that you could have told me this in person, seeing how our sleeping quarters are a few rooms apart. However, I will say this once, and this will be the only time I say this, and even under the threat of death I will not repeat this. This ship needs a captain that's not afraid to take risks, and that can think in an unorthodox way. You, sir, are born to lead wherever you go and wherever you will go I will follow.")

Bones shows up after a week, and doesn't say anything as he slides in behind Jim on the bed. Jim turns around and grabs on to him. They lie there in silence, just holding each other like their lives depended on it.

"Jim." Bones says, breaking the silence with a whisper "Jim, I didn't mean it." Jim doesn't say anything, just holds on tighter.

"It was like, it took everything in my head and twisted it." Bones keeps on, voice breaking. "I didn't have control. Jim, you know I don't feel like that, right?"

"Are you sure?" Jim sobs out. "I know how much you wanted to be stationed at a Starbase somewhere. How much safer it was."

"That was before everything. That was before me and you. I'm not going where you aren't there. Trust me. I'm always going to be here. Just don't go where I can't."

Jim thinks, yeah, I might be okay.

\-------

Two weeks later, Jim saunters onto the bridge for the first time since being put back on active duty.

"Captain on the bridge!" Sulu calls out, and everyone stands at attention.

He smiles, and sits in his command chair.

"Where to, Captain?" Chekov asks.

"I don't know." Jim replies. "Where do you think we should go, Mister Spock?"

"Captain, we recently received a distress call that a Starbase is under attack by a Ferengi warship."

"Well then," Kirk calls out, "Let's go teach them to play nice, shall we?"

"Aye, Captain."

"Punch it."


End file.
